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The South Central Regional Airport Agency is ready to discuss the environmental assessment for the proposed airport project. The group will hold a public hearing on Nov. 22 and collect feedback on the assessment.

It will also give an overview on the proposed actions and the potential economic and social impact.

It's been a long time coming, but the regional airport's environmental assessment is ready for feedback.

"Well, over the last, I'd say two years now, we've been working on the environmental assessment, which is a project required by the FAA prior to approving the site plan and so forth for the airport, says SCRAA Chairperson Jim Hansen.

The 444-page document can already be found online at scraaiowa.com. The SCRAA wanted to complete the assessment by late 2015. However, the proximity of the proposed airport to Prine Cemetery raised concerns. Prine Cemetery is located in Garfield Township, northwest of Oskaloosa.

"We ran into some questions about a couple of potentially historic spots within the area. They weren't in the site plan itself, but nearby,” Hansen says. “The FAA was concerned about impact on Prine Cemetery. So we've agreed to plant more trees, and so forth, to buffer that."

Hansen says the Federal Aviation Administration will evaluate the assessment and the site plan. But that evaluation will also include the feedback from the public hearing.

"We're going to take a transcript of the hearing, so someone will be there taking actual notes on the hearing. All that will be put together in a package, along with our environmental assessment, and then we will respond to those concerns as best we can, and then it goes to the FAA. The FAA, it's up to them to approve or disapprove it,” Hansen says.

The assessment and the site plan have to be approved by the FAA before the SCRAA can engage in negotiation talks with the 11 impacted landowners.

"The FAA will issue a finding. We expect them to issue a finding of no significant impact,” Hansen says.

That finding would mean the project continues moving along.

The public hearing will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 6 p.m. at the George Daily Auditorium. However, the doors will open at 4 p.m. to allow the public to read the assessment. People are encouraged to attend to ask questions and provide feedback of the regional airport project. The SCRAA asks that the public sign up to speak before the hearing begins.